Dar, Mbeya record crucial wins as Taifa Cup gathers pace

Arusha. Mwajuma Paulo was the heroine of Dar es Salaam’s Dream Team as they annihilated Dodoma in the on-going National Basketball Championship (Taifa Cup) here.

Mwajuma buried 15 points, more than half of what Dodoma managed in the game. The Dream Team won 68-22 at Soweto court yesterday.

The point-shooter took a brace of three-pointers and making two blocks besides delivering eight assists. The match started at a high tempo with both teams scoring points in quick succession in the first quarter. However, the Dar girls won the quarter 15-4.

Dodoma were energetic in the second quarter, but they could hardly match their opponents’ quality. The Dream Team recorded an impressed win of 15-3.

The Dar es Salaam side went into the halftime break enjoying a comfortable cushion of 30-7.

The Dar team that comprises majority of the national team players continued haunting their weak opponents in the third quarter as they won it 21-7, thus taking their lead to 51-14.

With a quarter remaining, it was obvious that the Dream Team would take the two points that were at stake. The Dream Team rampaged to a 17-8 win, making the final score stand at 68-22.

In another game, Mbeya, who are the reigning men’s champions, put hosts Arusha Combine to sword with a 43-32 victory.

Mbeya dominated the game from the outset and led by 19-16 until the halftime break before wrapping up the victory in the remaining quarters. Mohamed Yusuf and Mwalimu Heri scored 15 and 12 points respectively for Mbeya.

Nyake Suleiman of Arusha worked tirelessly and scored 10 points, which were, however, too little to help his team win.

Yesterday’s late game saw Kilimanajro (men) squeeze out a 77-65 win over Mara.